Machandelbaum is an old German word for the juniper tree, though today it is more commonly known as Wacholder. I used to think the name might come from Wachhalter (watch holder, or guardian). It doesn’t, etymologically, but I still like the idea. It suits the juniper’s presence: upright, quiet, watchful.

Still, juniper berries are said to stimulate circulation and thus invigorate. Once, as a teenager, I had a dizzy spell after adding juniper essence to my bathwater. While I like the sharp, piny fragrance of juniper berries—those that famously give gin its flavor—it’s the needles that hold the real allure. They have a wonderful, woody and resinous scent. On my way to school, I used to pass a garden with a tall juniper tree. I’d pull off a couple of the prickly needles and rub them between my fingers, for their ancient, peppery, almost medicinal aroma.

You’ll often find junipers in cemeteries, too. Certainly, the trees on Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead are cypresses, but juniper would have been the second-best choice for the painting. The two trees are easily confused. Both grow up vertically, not unlike candle flames. The cypress is architectural and austere; the juniper, wilder, less predictable in its growth. If I had to choose, I’d rather be buried beneath a juniper.

I like to imagine a Machandel tree standing in front of our pale garden wall—tall, light-absorbing, vertical, and still. Perhaps a bird would fly past. Perhaps no one would be quite sure what kind of bird it was. In stories, juniper trees are often linked to birds.

The fairy tale The Juniper Tree might be the most disturbing in the Brothers Grimm collection. It contains a beautiful description of the changing seasons of a juniper tree. In the tale, horror and death are always interwoven with a strange lightness, a fleeting cheerfulness.

“My mother, who slaughtered me,
My father, who ate me,
My sister, little Marlene,
Gathers all my bones so clean,
Wraps them in a silken cloth,
Lays them beneath the juniper tree.
Kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird I am!”